Gregory laid down the paper and looked round at the others. “You see how immensely important this document is.”
“I see that it would have been important if we’d discovered it before the war,” Angela answered, “because if the British Government had had it they would have known what Hitler’s intentions were; and that every time he declared he had no more territorial ambitions in Europe he was lying in his dirty teeth. But fortunately they got on to his game quite early in the programme and decided to fight when he’d only got as far as Stage 5—wasn’t it? Anyhow, the partitioning of Poland.”
“That’s right; Stage 5,” Gregory nodded.
“Well, then,” she continued, “now the war is on, that’s all that matters. The rest of the plan can be considered as a washout.”
“They have got as far as Stage 6, really,” Erika put in: “since the Russians have carried out the next move allotted to them and attacked Finland. Gods knows what has happened to the Finns since the beginning of January, but I should think the Red Army must have forced the Mannerheim Line by now from sheer weight of numbers. If so, the principal crook is probably preparing for the next step in the programme.”
“That’s it,” Gregory agreed. “Number 7 is the absorption of Norway and Denmark. If Stalin has done his stuff the Germans may have arrived in Copenhagen and Oslo while we’ve been sleeping our heads off here.”
“Britain and France won’t be sitting still doing nothing, though,” Freddie put in. “If Germany has moved into Norway and Denmark the Allies will establish a Scandinavian front.”
Gregory’s thin mouth twitched in his old cynical smile which had returned to him with his memory. “Yes. If the countries attacked ask us to come to their assistance and after the Germans have seized every port, railhead and air-base worth having.”
“If we are not invited in, then, we’ll just have to sit and watch the Nazis putting two more countries, with all their resources, in the bag.”
“That’s it. And if the neutrals do ask for help we’ll send it—of course. But our Expeditionary Force will have to land at miserable little fishing villages with only one rickety, wooden pier apiece and totally unfitted for military bases, while the German planes bomb them to Hell.”
“That puts the Allies in a pretty nasty fix, then.”
“It certainly does; since they’re still mugs enough to observe the law of nations. If I had my way I’d scrap every pre-war treaty in existence until the war is over and go into these places before the Germans can get there, whether the neutrals liked it or not.”
“But we couldn’t do that,” Freddie exclaimed in horror.
“Couldn’t we!” Gregory’s cynical laugh echoed through the room. “By God we could! And if we had the guts to do it we’d soon put paid to Hitler and all his crew. Regard Europe as a village, the nations as its householders and Britain and France as its two strongest and wealthiest inhabitants. What would they do if one of the villagers went mad? They would appoint themselves sheriffs and issue a declaration on the following lines:
“‘A homicidal maniac is at large and we have taken on the extremely dangerous and expensive job of catching him, for the safety of all concerned. As he is breaking into people’s houses, damaging their property and murdering their occupants, to facilitate our catching him we hereby assume the right to enter any house without a warrant and give notice that we will prosecute anybody who supplies him with food or shelter with the utmost rigour of the law.’”
“That would be ratting on all we’ve said about entering this war to protect the rights of small nations,” Freddie said dubiously, “and we’d lose the sympathy of all the neutrals.”
“Not at all! We should only be suspending international law for the duration of the conflict. Directly it was over we would restore every country’s independence and respect their rights just as we have always done in the past. As for the sympathy of the neutrals, what is it really worth? Nearly all the small European nations are under Germany’s thumb already; and the United States is not going to enter the war against us because we take the law into our own hands. As a matter of fact they would all become very much more pro-British if only we showed some guts and that we really meant to get down the bully of whom they’re all so terrified. They all want to keep their liberties but they kow-tow to Germany because they think we’re weak and effete; and they’re scared stiff that we might make a negotiated peace which would leave Germany free to give them a dusting up after the war, if they don’t do just what she tells them now.”
“I don’t see how such a declaration would help you to win the war, though,” Erika remarked.
“Don’t you?” Gregory laughed, “I do. The Siegfried Line is too strong for us to attack it across the French frontier without appalling losses; but they’re still only digging it along the Luxembourg and Belgian borders. If we chose to walk into the Low Countries one fine night we might outflank the main line and carry the war into the enemy’s country. They would only put up a formal show of resistance, then join us, because they hate the Nazis as much as we do.”
“Perhaps,” said Angela. “But where is all this speculation getting us?”
“Nowhere,” Gregory grinned. “So let’s get back to the business. This document is of immense significance for two reasons. Firstly, although the Allies declared war on Germany when she had reached only Stage 5 of her programme, it shows her true intentions. I’m prepared to swear that I got it direct from Hermann Goering. Copies of it, with my affidavit of that fact, ought to be sent to every neutral Government to inform them that Germany had deliberately planned to enslave the whole of Europe. Even if some of them doubt its authenticity it may cause them to take steps against the Nazi fifth columns which are undermining their powers of resistance and to reconsider their position a bit more carefully. Secondly, it is the penultimate paragraph which is of such vital importance. I’ll read it to you again.
“‘If at any stage before the last Britain does decide to fight every effort must be made to prevent other countries from becoming involved, so as to limit the area of hostilities. Immediately we have subdued whichever of the smaller nations has refused to be peaceably absorbed, and whose resistance has caused Britain to declare war upon us, our next objective must be to secure a peace by negotiation which will leave the remainder of Europe as far as possible unaltered from what it was at the cessation of hostilities. Then, after an interval for recuperation, the next stage must be undertaken; until all stages have been successfully completed either by diplomatic pressure or, if necessary, by a series of short wars.’
“Now do you see what I’m driving at?” Gregory said grimly. “This is not only the outline of the German plan to put the whole of Europe in her pocket; and having achieved that, to secure world dominion; it shows how she intends to do it. She does not mean to exhaust herself by another giant effort such as she made in 1914–1918, and to exhaust other nations by dragging as many of them as she can in as her allies. It is a far cleverer and much more dangerous scheme. It has worked, too, in four stages out of five, as the Russo-German-Italian bloc have already conquered Austria, Czechoslovakia, Albania, Lithuania, Latvia and Estonia without having had to fire a single shot. For Poland Germany has had to fight but, as we all know, as soon as Poland had been overrun Hitler opened a peace offensive. He didn’t pull it off, but if a stalemate continues in the West as time goes on everybody will get bored and dispirited; among the people of France and Britain there will be a growing feeling of resentment at having had their lives thrown out of gear for a war that isn’t a war at all.”
“That won’t be the case if Hitler goes into Holland and Belgium,” Freddie remarked. “It will be war with a vengeance, then.”
“True; and if Goering is overruled this plan may be abandoned for an attempt to force a quick decision. But say they do attack the Low Countries, what happens next? The great Armies will clash on the Yssel and the Maas. There will probably be a few weeks’ terrific fighting and the Allies
will stem the German advance on the Albert Canal and the Meuse. They’ll dig in there and unless the Germans drive through Switzerland there will be another stalemate, perhaps for years as there was in the last war. Then, after a time, Hitler will start another peace offensive. People will be bored and war-weary. His fifth column in London will get busy among the cranks and idealists that support organisations like the Nordic League and the Peace Pledge Union and an agitation will be started on the lines that Hitler isn’t such a bad fellow really. They will be saying: ‘He would never have attacked Poland if the Poles had let him have Danzig back. Now that he has rectified the wrongs—and they were wrongs—done to Germany by the Versailles Treaty he’s not asking anything else and he’s quite prepared to make peace. So why should our young men have to spend the best years of their lives in battle-dress, and why should we be burdened with this incredible taxation which is sending us all bankrupt, when we could quite well make a decent peace by negotiation?’”
Freddie nodded. “Yes. Lots of people will come to feel like that if this war drags on for years without any sign that there may ever be a finish to it; but even if we did make that sort of peace Europe would remain an armed camp, so the Germans wouldn’t dare to proceed with their plans any further.”
‘That’s where you’re utterly wrong,” Gregory declared. “We had riots in our Army after the last war because the men were anxious to get home and they couldn’t be demobilised quickly enough. The same thing would happen again and all the business people would start pressing for a reduction of taxation. Our Army, Navy and Air Force would dwindle and we should cease to manufacture the latest types of planes and munitions. Everybody would say that we had all we needed and our types would become obsolete, because Germany would not react in the same way at all. Hitler would be training another generation of German youth for the battlefield; Goebbels would be stuffing them with his propaganda; Goering would be improving his aeroplane designs and turning out better models than ours as hard as he could go.
“Within a year Hitler would be ahead of us again and ready to make his next move with impunity or, if need be, to fight another nine-months’ war. That is why this document has got to be placed in the hands of my old friend, Sir Pellinore Gwaine-Cust, who will put it before the Cabinet and the Allied War Council. He will vouch to them for my integrity; that if I say I got it from Goering’s safe I did get it from Goering’s safe. As it is irrefutable proof of Germany’s intentions it may be the means of checking any move towards peace until Germany is down and out and split up into little pieces once and for all. It must reach them at the earliest possible moment. Therefore, I intend to leave for England tomorrow.”
Had a Russian plane dropped a bomb in the clearing at that moment it could not have caused a greater consternation among Gregory’s listeners.
“But you can’t, darling!” Erika exclaimed. “We’re snowed up here.”
“Of course he can’t!” Angela supported her. “We dont even know the way to the nearest village and it may be fifty miles away. He’d be frozen to death long before he got there.”
Freddie sat silent with a strained look on his face. The girls continued their chorus of protest, but it was clear that their arguments were not having the least effect on Gregory and when at last they petered out in a miserable silence Freddie said:
“I do understand now, old chap, how important this thing is. From what you said it’s quite clear that by making any premature peace we should only be falling into Hitler’s trap, and it’s got to be a fight to the finish. I doubt if one of us could get through alone, but two of us might, and I’d willingly come with you if only there was some way in which we could leave the girls with a reasonable hope that they could remain here in safety.”
There was an awful silence as Angela stared at him wide-eyed, but Gregory said at once: “I’ll manage somehow, Freddie; you must stay and look after them.”
Erika sighed. “You know, we’ve been very happy here; but fate didn’t mean our happiness to continue. It couldn’t with everything which we hold dear in the world at stake; and when the thaw came we should have felt drawn back anyhow. I don’t believe that Gregory could get through alone, either, and I think I should be tempted to kill myself if I had to stay on here not knowing what had happened to him. But if we all went we could take the sleigh, drive and sleep by turns, collect wood to make fires when we have to halt and cook meals.”
Angela nodded. “I know that Freddie feels he ought to go; and although I suppose we could manage for ourselves I’m not staying without him. Besides, it’s up to us as much as the men to stop the Nazi terror bringing misery to countless people all over the world; and we’ve learnt to do so much in these last two months that I’m sure we should be a help rather than a hindrance.”
“Very well, then,” Gregory said quietly. “I wouldn’t allow any of you to budge from here if I didn’t know that your coming with me would enormously increase my chances of getting back to civilisation with these grimy bits of paper. But as you’re game to risk death with me I accept your offer. We start tomorrow.”
Once the decision had been taken they began their preparations immediately. It was important that the sleigh should be kept as light as possible, in order not to overburden the horses, so they made out a list of things they might require, carefully assessing the value of each item before deciding to take it with them. Fur rugs to keep out the devastating cold, spades for digging the sleigh out if it got stuck in a snowdrift, hatchets for chopping wood to make fires, paraffin with which to light them easily, and arms for their protection, were all essential. The rest of the load was to consist of various utensils and food and fodder enough to last them a week.
Having completed their list they turned in and went to sleep wondering uneasily where the following night would find them; but they were all up early the next morning and, concealing the anxiety which they could not help feeling under a rather forced gaiety, they set to loading the sleigh.
Over breakfast their light small talk petered out and it was a very silent party that harnessed the horses to the troika half an hour later. They had many regrets at leaving their Arctic refuge and little elation at the prospect that in a few days they might be back in civilisation again. Between them and safety lay the possibility of capture by the Russians or—worse—of their getting lost in the limitless forests and dying from cold and hunger.
It was still dark when they started and Freddie, who had taken the reins for the first spell, drove the troika in a zigzag course between the trees to avoid the great snow-covered barrier they had erected across the track. The road was now only a big snow-filled gully between the two masses of trees, but in its centre, where there were no drifts, the surface was even and hard enough for the horses to trot on without burying their hooves further than the fetlocks.
Freddie turned the sleigh to the right on reaching the road as it had been decided to head towards Petsamo until they could find a side-road leading west, in the direction of the frontier. Apart from losing their way their main danger lay in the possibility of running into Russian detachments which might be patrolling that section of the broken battle-front, but owing to the rigours of the climate such detachments must be rare, so they hoped to get through unchallenged.
Resting the horses for ten minutes in each hour they drove for three hours but during all that time they saw no sign of a side-road leading to the west; so Gregory decided that they had better enter the next wide break among the trees where they could strike west across country. Half an hour later they turned left along a clearing which penetrated the forest as far as they could see, finding little difference between the snow-covered grassland and the snow-covered surface of the road.
As they advanced the clearing widened until the trees had fallen back a mile or more on either side of them; but after another hour the ground became broken and uneven, which slowed up the pace of the horses. Ten minutes later they became stuck in a snowdrift. They soon had the sleigh free and the
work of digging it out warmed them; but they were not so pleased at having to exert themselves when it got stuck again a hundred yards further on.
In the next hour they had to dig the sleigh out of snowdrifts six times and in their heavy furs it was a wearing business, but at last they struck hard snow and were able to move on again at a decent pace.
The short day was now over and full dusk had come when they reached a barrier of forest lying right across their path, where the trees were so thick that it was impossible for the sleigh to be driven between them. Gregory said that they must turn south but that as long as it was dark they might pass another gap in the trees by which they could get further westward; whereas they would later have the moon—which would be full that night—to light their way; so their best course was to eat and afterwards sleep for a few hours.
Having put on the horses’ nosebags and rugged them up they made a meal of a portion of the cooked food they had brought with them; then snuggled down together under the furs in the sleigh, burying themselves under the great heap to keep in the warmth as much as possible.
At ten o’clock they roused up and set off again, driving south along the edge of the forest until a clearing opened in it. Turning west they drove on in a zigzag course from clearing to clearing, or sometimes across broad stretches of open land, until one o’clock in the morning.
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